MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS

(P/B) THE SYRIZA WAVE
Utterly corrupt corporate and government elites bankrupted Greece twice over. First, by profligate deficit spending benefitting only themselves; second, by agreeing to an IMF bailout of the Greek economy, devastating ordinary Greek citizens who were already enduring government-induced poverty, unemployment, and hunger. Finally, in response to dire austerity measures, the people of Greece stood up, forming, from their own historic roots of resistance, Syriza the Coalition of the Radical Left. For those who caught the Syriza wave, there was,...
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(P/B) UNTIL WE FALL
Offers vivid first hand accounts of encounters with fellow socialists following the fall of the Soviet Union. Most westerners glimpsed the breakup of the Soviet Union at a great distance, through a highly distorted lens which equated the expansion of capitalism with the rise of global democracy. But there were those, like Helena Sheehan, who watched more keenly and saw a world turning upside down. In her new autobiographical history from below, Until We Fall, Sheehan shares what she witnessed first-hand and close-up, as hopes were raised b...
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(P/B) DISCOURSE ON COLONIALISM

(P/B) OPEN VEINS OF LATIN AMERICA
The classic survey of Latin America's social and cultural history, with a new introduction by Isabel Allende Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin Ame...
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(P/B) THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MEDIA
More than any other work, The Political Economy of Media demonstrates the incompatibility of the corporate media system with a viable democratic public sphere, and the corrupt policymaking process that brings the system into existence. Among the most acclaimed communication scholars in the world, Robert W. McChesney has brought together all the major themes of his two decades of research. Rich in detail, evidence, and thoughtful arguments, The Political Economy of Media provides a comprehensive critique of the degradation of journalism, th...
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(P/B) AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THREE VOLUMES OF KARL MARX'S CAPITAL
The global economic crisis and recession that began in 2008 had at least one unexpected outcome: a surge in sales of Karl Marx's Capital. Although mainstream economists and commentators once dismissed Marx's work as outmoded and flawed, some are begrudgingly acknowledging an analysis that sees capitalism as inherently unstable. And of course, there are those, like Michael Heinrich, who have seen the value of Marx all along, and are in a unique position to explain the intricacies of Marx's thought. Heinrich's modern interpretation of Capita...
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(P/B) DEBT, THE IMF AND THE WORLD BANK
Mainstream economists tell us that developing countries will replicate the economic achievements of the rich countries if they implement the correct free-market policies. But scholars and activists Toussaint and Millet demonstrate that this is patently false. Drawing on a wealth of detailed evidence, they explain how developed economies have systematically and deliberately exploited the less-developed economies by forcing them into unequal trade and political relationships. Integral to this arrangement are the international economic instit...
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(P/B) LABOR AND MONOPOLY CAPITAL
This widely acclaimed work, first published in 1974, overturned the reigning ideologies of academic sociology and became the standard text for many basic areas of sociological inquiry, including the science of managerial control, the relationship of technological innovation to social class, and the eradication of skill from work under capitalism. (From the publisher) Labor and Monopoly Capital is one of the most influential books of our time,and it deserves to be. This new edition will help a new generation of readers understand the force...
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(P/B) THE INVISIBLE HANDCUFFS OF CAPITALISM
Mainstream, or more formally, neoclassical, economics claims to be a science. But as Michael Perelman makes clear in his latest book, nothing could be further from the truth. While a science must be rooted in material reality, mainstream economics ignores or distorts the most fundamental aspect of this reality: that the vast majority of people must, out of necessity, labor on behalf of others, transformed into nothing but a means to the end of maximum profits for their employers. The nature of the work we do and the conditions under which ...
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(P/B) THE LAW OF WORLDWIDE VALUE
In his new extensively revised and expanded edition of this book, Samir Amin suggests new approaches to Marxian analysis of the crisis of the late capitalist system of generalized, financialized, and globalized oligopolies following on the financial collapse of 2008. Considering that Marx's Capital, written before the emergence of imperialism as a decisive factor in capitalist accumulation, could provide no explanation for the persistent "underdevelopment" of the countries of the "global South," Amin advances several important theoretical ...
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(P/B) SOCIAL STRUCTURES AND FORMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS (VOLUME II)
In The Dialectic of Structure and History, Volume Two of Social Structure and Forms of Consciousness, Istvan Meszaros brings the comprehension of our condition and the possibility of emancipatory social action beyond the highest point reached to date. Building on the indicatory flashes of conceptual lightning in the Grundrisse and other works of Karl Marx, Meszaros sets out the relations of structure and agency, individual and society, base and superstructure, nature and history, in a dialectical totality open to the future. The project is...
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(P/B) SOCIAL STRUCTURES AND FORMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS (VOLUME I)
This new work by the leading Marxian philosopher of our day is a milestone in human self-understanding. It focuses on the location where action emerges from freedom and necessity, the foundation of all social science. Today, as never before, the investigation of the close relationship between social structure - defined by Marx as "arising from the life-process of definite individuals" - and the various forms of consciousness is particularly important. We can only perceive what is possible by first identifying the historical process that co...
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(P/B) KARL MARX'S THEORY OF REVOLUTION (VOLUME II)
The Foreword to Volume 1 took up a number of overall problems faced by any attempt to present Marx's views, particularly by an attempt at "a full and definitive treatment" of Marx's political thought. One of these problems can be usefully discussed again from another angle, taking inspiration from an article by Engels called "How Not to Translate Marx." I explained why this work has taken the route of presenting a large number of passages from Marx and Engels themselves, instead of merely offering the hundred-and-nth "interpretation" of th...
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(P/B) ANARCHISM
One of the ablest leaders and writers of the French New Left describes the two realms of 'anarchism' - its intellectual substance, and its actual practice through the Bolshevik Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, the Italian Factory Councils, and finally the role in workers' self-management in Yugoslavia and Algeria. One sees in 'anarchism' a close kinship to libertarianism of the right, with its horror of state bureaucracy and hostility toward bourgeois (liberal) democracy. Noam Chomsky, perhaps Guerin's American political counterpart, has...
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(P/B) THE CONTRADICTIONS OF "REAL SOCIALISM"
What was "real socialism" - the term which originated in twentieth-century socialist societies for the purpose of distinguishing them from abstract, theoretical socialism? In this volume, Michael A. Lebowitz considers the nature, tendencies, and contradictions of those societies. Beginning with the constant presence of shortages within "real socialism," Lebowitz searches for the inner relations which generate these patterns. He finds these, in particular, in what he calls "vanguard relations of production," a relation which takes the appar...
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(P/B) KARL MARX'S THEORY OF REVOLUTION (VOLUME III)
In this third volume of his definitive study of Karl Marx's political thought, Hal Draper examines how Marx, and Marxism, have dealt with the issue of dictatorship in relation to the revolutionary use of force and repression, particularly as this debate has centered on the use of the term "dictatorship of the proletariat." Writing with his usual wit and perception, Draper strips away the layers of misinterpretation and misinformation that have accumulated over the years to show what Marx and Engels themselves really meant by the term. (Fro...
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(P/B) KARL MARX'S THEORY OF REVOLUTION (VOLUME I)
"An extraordinarily stimulating work written in a fresh, open, often amusing style, which comes as a welcome relief after the turgidities of so much Marx writing. Despite its length and heavy reliance on citation, the easy prose and the intrinsic importance and interest of the subject matter make this volume pleasant and quick to read. "Central to Draper's purpose is an exposition of Marx's theory of revolution. This begins with a discussion of the young Marx's views on democracy (he was an 'extreme' democrat), proceeds to a discussion of ...
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(P/B) THE ENDLESS CRISIS
The days of boom and bubble are over, and the time has come to understand the long-term economic reality. Although the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, hopes for a new phase of rapid economic expansion were quickly dashed. Instead, growth has been slow, unemployment has remained high, wages and benefits have seen little improvement, poverty has increased, and the trend toward more inequality of incomes and wealth has continued. It appears that the Great Recession has given way to a period of long-term anemic growth, which Fos...
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(P/B) THE WORK OF SARTRE
This landmark book, first published in 1979, met acclaim as a doubly important work of radical philosophy. Its subject, Jean-Paul Sartre, was among the twentieth century's most controversial and influential philosophers; its author, Istvan Meszaros, was himself establishing a reputation for profound contributions to the Marxian tradition, which would continue into the next century. The Work of Sartre was thus considered essential for its insights on Sartre and as a piece of Meszaros's developing politico-philosophical project. In this comp...
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(P/B) BIOLOGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE
How do we understand the world? While some look to the heavens for intelligent design, others argue that it is determined by information encoded in DNA. Science serves as an important activity for uncovering the processes and operations of nature, but it is also immersed in a social context where ideology influences the questions we ask and how we approach the material world. Biology Under the Influence breaks from the confines of determinism, offering a dialectical analysis for comprehending a dynamic social and natural world. In Biology ...
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